In the pizza retail industry, it is common practice to sell two pizza pies together for delivery or take-out. Although the two pizza pies sold together might be separately packaged, one common merchandising practice is to deliver the two to the customer in a single container. A single container used by one well known chain of pizzerias is an elongated tray with the two pizza pies disposed side-by-side with a bag over the tray. A tray of this type is described in the patent to Stease et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,625 granted Feb. 19, 1991.
It is also known in the prior art to package two pizza pies in a composite box which provides a separate compartment for each of the pizza pies, one above the other. This has been proposed in a composite box which comprises two stackable boxes wherein a lower open-top box is adapted to receive one pizza pie and an upper box stacked on the lower one, is adapted to receive a second pizza pie. In this arrangement, the upper box is connected with the lower box for convenience in handling and the bottom of the upper box serves as a cover for the open-top lower box. A packaging arrangement of this kind is disclosed in the Zion et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,734 granted Jan. 15, 1991. A similar arrangement is described in the LaNicca U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,242 granted Nov. 20, 1990. In another arrangement, a composite box is made by folding a one-piece box blank to provide a box having a lower compartment with a bottom panel for receiving one pizza pie, and an upper compartment having a bottom panel for receiving a second pizza pie. The upper compartment is provided with a hinged cover. A box of this construction is disclosed in the Kent et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,452 granted Jul. 31, 1990.
The cost of a container for delivery and carry-out pizza amounts to a substantial part of the total cost of the product. There is a continuing need in the industry for reduction in the cost of a pizza box which will meet required performance standards. One approach to achieving cost reduction for pizza boxes is to provide a suitable box design which requires a reduced amount of board for making the box blank. In the case of packaging two pizza pies together, the use of stackable boxes such as those prior art boxes described above affords the advantage of reducing the amount of board required by eliminating the need for a separate cover over the lower box. While this is a meritorious cost savings feature, a successful box of this type must be implemented in such a manner that it provides desired performance characteristics.
In stacked boxes for containing two pizza pies in an "over-under" arrangement, special care must be taken for protection of the product. The boxes must exhibit a high degree of rigidity and strength and properly enclose the product. When the boxes are held by one hand at any corner, there should be no relative movement between the boxes and no drooping or other deformation of either box. Further, each of the stacked boxes must lend itself to fast set-up time and fast take-down time. The two stackable boxes, after each receives a pizza pie, must be adapted for easy and quick stacking with an interlock arrangement to provide a rigid connection between the boxes.
A general object of this invention is to provide stackable boxes, especially adapted for the pizza pies, which overcomes certain disadvantages of the prior art.